Wonder lesson plan – Explore disability with RJ Palacio's novel

What's included?

Two-page PDF lesson plan

Key Stage

KS3

Age

Years 7-9

Subjects

Wonder by RJ Palacio is an inclusive text that allows for the exploration of disability issues in the classroom, while avoiding the usual stereotypes. In this Wonder lesson plan you’ll devote significant time to speaking, listening and role play.

This is in part to help learners develop their ‘emotion toolkit’ in preparation for going into the character Auggie’s world.

What is Wonder about?

Wonder centres around a young boy called August (Auggie) who is born with a facial deformity, and documents his struggle to be accepted after moving to a mainstream school.

Learning objectives

Work towards developing your empathy for others
Make an impact on discussion through challenging and constructive contributions
Use your own experiences and those of your peers to develop an argument

Wonder lesson plan starter activity

Before the lesson starts appoint two pupils as scribes, they will document key points through the lesson (a flip chart works well for this).

Begin your Wonder lesson plan by asking the students to discuss with a partner a time they felt self-conscious. Can they sum up the situation in one word? Share their word with the class using the ‘conscience alley’ technique (anyone the teacher points at shouts the word – swipe quickly at first to warm them up, then use slower movements to focus on particular groups’ words).

Scribes choose a selection of words to document on flip chart.

Hot seating

Ask pupils to talk about themselves, switching between confident and self-conscious. Can their peers identify key differences and build each other’s performances?

Sean Stockdale works for nasen as editor of Special magazine. He is also an Advanced Skills Teacher for ICT and author of Max the Champion (co-authored with Alexandra Stick). For information about Max and disability issues visit maxthechampion.co.uk. View more free KS3 English reading and writing lesson plans. Find out more about Disability History Month.